Midland's 'SantaLand Diaries' shows a different side of department-store holidays

MIDLAND, MI – While Saginaw’s Pit and Balcony Community Theatre revisits Macy’s in its “Miracle on 34th Street” this holiday season, standing-room-only crowds will experience the holidays at the legendary New York City department story in a completely different way at the Midland Center for the Arts.

While Center Stage Theatre has already added two performances to its run, “SantaLand Diaries,” based on satirist David Sedaris’ life as an elf, has less than 100 tickets still available for the 3 p.m. show Saturday, Dec. 14. Tickets, available at the box office, by calling 800-523-7649 and online at mcfta.org, cost $18.

Even the staging of the one-man show, starring Adam Gardner and directed by Dexter Brigham, promises a unique evening out with the audience seated cabaret-style onstage around Santa’s Village.

This isn’t a warm fuzzy, Brigham warned, but rather a mockery that puts the rampant commercialization of the season in its proper place.

“We liken it to a Sour Patch Kid,” said Gardner. “It has a really rough exterior but at the heart, it has a gooey center. The true meaning of the season comes through.”

“SantaLand Diaries,” originally aired on NPR, was adjusted for the stage in 1996, said Brigham, a diehard fan of the play. “Sedaris does a great job of mocking the 60 days of Christmas; it’s a brilliant account from a sarcastic, jaded, gay New Yorker in his early 30s.

“This is his life experience and he tells it with tongue firmly planted in cheek.”

And if anyone can pull it off, Brigham said, it’s Gardner, “a really dynamic guy in the first place,” he added. “There was a little trepidation in the beginning, but Adam took it and ran with it.”

“It’s like nothing I’ve done before,” Gardner admitted. “I’m just a guy up there talking, but it has to be well-acted enough to come across naturally. The play is about an hour and 15 minutes long, but three hours of rehearsal alone on stage is exhausting.

Memorizing a 35-page script is daunting but Gardner, who most recently acted in “Avenue Q,” “The Full Monty” and “Dracula,” is right at home with the edgy style of Midland’s Off-Center production. In his day job, he teaches music at Bangor Township Schools.

“I’m teaching middle- and high-school students all day, so this gives me a chance to break out my wild side,” he said, laughing. “I have a very dry, sarcastic sense of humor, so it was easy to get into the role.

“It’s been a huge undertaking and I don’t know if I’d do it again. It would have to be something good, like this.”